CHAPTER 22
Their dad came back to his own ranch and took siestas when he wasn’t helping to get some things ready. He took the wagons, one at a time, into town and had the blacksmith in Kerrville mount water barrels—one on each side of the wagons. A shovel rack for the side and two ax holders, some towing chains with hooks on the ends in case they got stuck in the mud. He went over every inch of the new sets of harnesses and bragged on the mules. Best he ever drove were his words about the long ears. He was not a mule man so that meant a lot to Harp coming from him.
Amos Thornton and his boys drove in the promised horse herd, much to Harp’s relief. He ordered three wagonloads of hay for them, from some farmers, to feed them until they left.
The two head men, Doug and Chaw, plus Long and Harp met in the mess tent each morning. All the horses were divided between them. Each man had five horses to ride. Herd one had fourteen hands due to the herd size.
Days warmed, rain fell generously, grass broke its dormancy, and the elms leaved out. Harp found sixty more horses and he bought them. The daylight hours lengthened.
Chadron Turner was to be Doug’s scout. Chaw chose Eldon Morehouse to be his. Red Culver was to be Harp’s number two man. Harp wanted the herds to stay a day or two apart and not to get their herds mixed in with any other. Such a mess would take days to sort the many cattle from each other, out in the open country without corrals.
Every supply wagon carried enough new Winchester rifles and ammo for each hand, plus. 45 lead bullets, gunpowder, and caps. The gunpowder and caps fit other calibers. The bullets were good for the .30- or .44-caliber side arms. His used saddles, and for those cowboys that did not own one, their mounts were gone over with new girths and latigo leathers. Things were as right as they could be or at least how Harp could make them.
On the final day he took his pregnant wife to an isolated creek and they played in the water, picnicked, and made love on a blanket capped off with a can of peaches for each of them. It was a very sweet yet sad day since they had not been apart for long since Lee’s Creek, and the few times he was gone he always missed her. This would be a tough period of time, not to have her with him.
Their time to go back was closing. They were lying on their backs watching fluffy clouds pass over. She sat up and shook her hair, caressing her expanded stomach. “I never dreamed about this happening to me.”
“I wouldn’t know. My dreams are all about horse wrecks that never happen and me falling off cliffs I’d never climb.”
“Did you ever dream about getting ready for this drive?”
“No. And I never dreamed of you before you came into my life. But there was some powerful force that showed me you should be mine. I wasn’t finding someone new—you were mine already. We made love on that beach like we had done it many times before. It was wonderful but not shockingly new.”
“More reason to take care of yourself on this long trip. I agree it was like we were overcome by some spirit, and it has been like that every day since then. Let’s pray together.”
He sat up and got on his knees.
“You say the words,” Kate said in a soft voice.
“Our dear heavenly father, tomorrow we part for a short while. Help her get through this pregnancy into motherhood. Be with me as I ride north on business . . .” His prayer went on, hands clasped, eyes shut tightly talking about facing the big undertaking and a long sentence of time away from his lovely wife.